1912: Cultural expressions of Irishness in the periodical press

Abstract

This thesis analyses the cultural, social and political discourse in a range of Irish periodicals published during 1912. The Third Home Rule Bill was introduced to Parliament in 1912, and was intended to grant Ireland a separate Parliament and a level of independence unseen since before the Act of Union. The Irish press had long engaged in a process that W.T. Stead described as Government by Journalism, and the Bill provided an added impetus to debates in the periodicals. Discussion on a range of cultural and social topics would help forge Irish nationalism and prepare the way for an Irish parliament in the interim. A number of individuals expounded their cultural vision of a Home Rule Ireland through the press. This thesis examines Irish periodicals as a public space of debate and interaction in relation to a range of topics. The first chapter examines the proponents and opponents of censorship and the vigilance movement of 1912. It examines the different ideologies that were apparent in this discussion as well as the women's suffrage in 1912 and the reaction of the vigilance crusade to suffragists. The second chapter examines the importance of sport to representations of Irish nationalism and manliness. It analyses the relationship between sports and the deanglicization movement, and local politics. Chapter three examines the role of music as a signifier of class and nationalism in the press and the role of music in provoking or sustaining conflicts. Chapter four examines Irish literary revivalism in 1912 and the theoretical formulation of nationalism in Ireland. It analyses the limits and contradictions of literary revivalism as a means of decolonization, as well as the hybrid nature of Irish literature and British representations of Irishness in the periodicals of 1912.